Operation Overlord Alright, out of the #thinktank channel on an irc, an idea has developed that I feel will help our cause during the 15th, and increase the lulz that can be had. First off, this plan will require 4 anon from each protest. The smaller protests might have some issue fulfilling the requirements, but if our cause has grown enough by then, I think we'll be ok. 1st Anon is Cafe Anon. He will have a laptop and set up at a internet cafe, starbucks, etc. several blocks (or even like a mile, if he's paranoid) away from the protest itself. He will be in contact with other Cafe Anons around the world at other protests through IRC, forums, or whatever other means they deem necessary. Next two Anons are Camera Anons. They will each have digital camcorders, and will take turns filming the protest and any interesting bits, i.e. conversations with police, scilons, etc., i.e. one films while the other runs back to the Cafe Anon and gets the video uploaded onto the internet. 4th Anon is Mob Anon. He will remain at the protest, and will either have a way to get in contact with the Cafe Anon or one of the Camera Anons. The ability to instantly get ahold of one another is critical. So, how this works, is that throughout the day videos of the protest will be constantly uploaded. This provides several bonuses, one of which is xbox hueg important. First, Anons worldwide will take heart as they know that not only will they have scores of /b/rothas at their side, but thousands stand with them worldwide. Secondly, it will give the public a better idea at the sheer scale of these protests, simply through the number of videos that flood in. Third, and most important, is that the scilons have over a month to prepare for our next round of protests; they will probably have some counter-tactics prepared. The protests in earlier timezones will witness these tactics, and info will go straight to the Cafe Anon, who will in turn inform the other Cafe Anons of these tactics. There will be great hiveminding going on, and the Anonymous herd of cats will come up with a plan to counter these tactics, and then inform their respective Mob Anons, who will disseminate the information to the rest of the crowd. If the scilon tactics are discovered and have a counter developed early enough, once the central or even west coast protests begin, we will be able to stop the scilons in their tracks before they even get their plans off the ground. Several weaknesses in the plan need to be discussed; first, the Cafe Anon is rather isolated in his position. Any scilons that tail the camera anons back to the cafe anons might begin harrassing them. This can be helped in a couple ways; first, several anon can remain with cafe anon, though this detracts from the protest. Second, a group of anon can be designated as /b/lackup in case the scilons attack the cafe anon, though this could cause a confrontation, a DO NOT WANT scenario for us or for the owner of the cafe. Third, the Cafe Anon could simply inform the manager at his location of what it is that he'll be doing; a source of revenue throughout the day is probably going to be fine with the manager, and if scilons come in and start trying to hassle and bullbait the cafe anon, the manager himself could provide /b/lackup. a DO WANT scenario. Secondly, we begin to take some semblance of organization by having the group of cafe anons. They need to not be namefags. Do not stick out. Their job is to only upload videos onto youtube and share information. It also provides a digital target, if the cafe anons are only communicating through one means, i.e. only through irc. This can be remedied by the cafe anon simply not being idiots, so please, do not allow morons to be cafe anons. And make SURE they have means of communicating with the other cafe anon other than through irc. Forums, aim, even unaffiliated chatrooms could work. Hell, they could go on gaia, if they wanted a place noone would ever expect to find them. So, what do you all think? could we do it?
Re: Operation Overlord That is a lot of tl;dr but yeah. If this were to be done it would require a team of people online(irc) who had good contact with the Cafe Anons to get the word and spread the links, and a site to post them all too. This could be pulled off as a channel to do something like that exists on partyvan, #reports . They did basically this throughout the 10th.
Re: Operation Overlord yeah, so i'd heard, and an irc channel is exactly what i had in mind. Really, i just want to get it so that the videos are uploading constantly throughout the day, and just generally make it more efficient. Plus, as i said, the scilons have a MONTH to figure out how to troll our protests, while it took us about 5 minutes of listening to WBM to figure out how to make their entire strategy null and void. If we can get some hivemind action going, we can make them shit brix as we perfectly counter whatever they do.
Re: Operation Overlord basically a good idea but probably not applicable in some countries where masks are illegal (such as germany) and faces have to be edited out of the videos before uploading. but the communication aspect alone would be pretty cool, if simply for being able to counter scilon countermeasures.
Re: Operation Overlord there were a lot of faces shown in the videos and pics that were going around. Granted, the majority of the more prevalent stuff has all face covers, so i'll concede the point... perhaps those areas that can't have face coverings should probably back off, though still having a cafe anon and mob anon just to relay information would allow them to continue to contribute and benefit the effort.
Re: Operation Overlord I think one way to make it safer is to ensure that CafeAnons are never alone. If we're paired up we're harder to mess with. Plus, two laptops means one spare in case something goes afoul with the first.
Re: Operation Overlord There are two ways to ensure that the CafeAnon is safe: complete isolation, or with backup inside the cafe. If runners are going back and forth, PIs/Scilons might catch on and follow; it not, there's very little that they could do to ID the CafeAnon, who wouldn't even have to be wearing a mask or have anything that would otherwise give away his affiliation (though who should have a disguise ready in case he runs into someone). The Cafe is a public area with lots of non-scis around, so confrontations are less likely. The other problem is that the runners would be alone for the duration of the move, rendering them vulnerable. At the very least, they'd have to switch out before they fill up their memory cards, in case they need to record any spies on the way. As for the leadership thing, that's really a non-issue. Anon has room for specializations, and these positions are all ad hoc and don't depend on the specific person doing the job. The one danger is that the CafeAnon or MobAnon could get large heads at having so critical a role; but the other Anon should know enough to pop their bubbles if they have to. The essential aspect for this plan to work is redundancy. Pre-plan some a couple backup IRC rooms in case one is taken down, and don't generally publish that info until very close to the protest. Have people ready to step in if one of the RL roleAnons is acting out of turn or otherwise unable to fulfill their duty.
Re: Operation Overlord lotta work but definitely a nice idea. Maybe it doesn't have to be quite this detailed the first go.... If someone was stationed in a cafe, they could comm on irc and with the protest via cell phone [untraceable prepaid, paid for with cash of course]... people with a camera phone could email the video to the cafe anon to upload with out needing runners, albeit at a lower res footage. Rather then use this as a constant protest upload it can be used as a defense against sci trolls to disseminate information and video of sci trolls for our own safety/ basic protest updates, while uploading the real high quality stuff later on. it would be more workable no?
Re: Operation Overlord DC is in for this, I would suggest multiple cafe anons in multiple cafes, though for added security. They could also keep up to date galleries of known scilons in their area, although I'm not sure how many other groups are doing that its been a big help for us.
Re: Operation Overlord I have doubts about the time needed to get videos on youtube. How much time does it take to: 1-get video from protest to computer. 2-Copy video from camcorder to computer. 3-Edit video clips. 4-Compress video to youtube-friendly format/resolution. 5-upload the video to youtube Depending on the material and the talent available (camcorder format, cpu horsepower, editing experience, upload bandwidth available, etc.) this may or may not be feasible depending on the resources of local groups. Pictures are a lot easier. And text is trivial of course so the communication aspect and sharing of information as needed should not be a problem.
Re: Operation Overlord Anaunimus is right, video editing/compression can be fairly time intensive. For "live" coverage pictures would probably work better and the video coverage could be edited/uploaded post event for dissemination (most decent hotels have a broadband connection for their business clients)
Re: Operation Overlord Perhaps a series of shorter and less quality clips, to reduce or eliminate the need for editing? Use a rotation of memory cards so while one is uploading, another is being shot. Since it seems like more than one recorder is needed, perhaps use one to make high quality video for later editing and the other for low quality youtube-it-now clips? Of course, it would depend on available resources, but more memory cards = more copies, if anything. Also note for CafeAnon: If you are a paying customer you're much less likely to be thrown out and, if harassed, management will be much more likely to come to your aid. Tip well, that's for sure. If you begin to deter from/annoy regular business with CamerAnons coming in and out, however, it's time to GTFO and find another spot.
Re: Operation Overlord I agree with the it takes to long to edit videos part, but we could still do photos, and having communication with all the other cities during the day would be great.
Re: Operation Overlord This sounds like a great idea. However, it would take a lot of planning to pull off. I do think the larger cities can manage it. It wouldn't be a bad idea to discuss this topic in each region's sub-forums.
Re: Operation Overlord Having the IRC communication link to other cities is the best out of the whole idea. "Real time" video would be near impossible, even without editing. BUT, having someone with a computer would allow the video cams to unload, thus allowing us to shoot more. The editing and upload would still happen at the end though. Fairly frequent photo uploads shouldn't be a problem. Pulling something like this off is getting into the far edges of "we're just a bunch of people." Roles will have to be delegated/claimed, ideally with plenty of other options so that any number of anons could fill in any gap imaginable. If any anon fails in any specific task, at least 10 should be able to take his place. If planned for adequately this could be pulled off (and provide lots of benefit), without proper planning it could leave some anons really exposed, as well as detract numbers from the protest (noticeably in smaller cities).
Re: Operation Overlord If you happen to know someone who is friendly with staff at a coffee shop, you might be able to help keep Cafe Anon, Anon. Chances are that Anonymous will need coffee breaks every now and then. Scout out beforehand who is working, and ask them to help you out. Like I said, if you or someone you know is friendly with staff, it shouldn't be too hard. When Anonymous arrive for coffee, carefully slip the SD card with footage, or merely a note to pass onto the Cafe Anon to staff. Cafe Anon gets SD card or note from staff when they go up to get more coffee after Anon have left. Always vary intervals for when you get new coffee; simply heading up straight away is a dead giveaway. Cafe Anon then proceeds to upload video, or pass on messages of Co$ tactics, head counts, or anything else of interest to those unable to raid, or behind the time zone. In case of SD cards, next time Anon come back, SD card will be given back by staff, ready to record some more I suggest people who are unwilling to raid, or owe you a favor. Using more than one for bigger raids might be good, as they can leave/arrive and make it look casual. What does everyone think?
Re: Operation Overlord this anon has a 3ghz laptop XD either way it all depends on the site... I'd rather be protesting and the idea of being alone and unmasked in a city where OSA is going to be looking for me doesn't sit well.
Re: Operation Overlord I would suggest multiple café anons for each protest wherever available, to make sure stupid disinformation doesn't get sent out (you never know, someones trolling instincts might takeover, or a more clever scifag might get into the position of being in control of the laptop). also, multiple comm lines would definitely be a necessity. not only back up IRC rooms, but everynow and again posts should be made on these forums and others. back up IRC rooms (with different people in charge) are needed not only if one goes down, but also in case someone with privileges goes a bit odd (remember that einstein guy? I wouldn't want someone like him in charge while important infos coming in, he may just kick people he doesn't like and tie up their time getting back).
Re: Operation Overlord the multiple cafe anon thing isn't bad, lord knows starbucks is everywhere. it would need more camera anons, though... or just have the cafe anons be there as backup in case the original cafe anon goes down, that way the vid uploading can continue.
Re: Operation Overlord Problem...each camera has it's own software to download photos from SD card. I plan on doing major photog for local anon however I doubt and fellow anon have computer with software capabilites to handle my card....I can switch from shooting in RAW to jpg but it will lower quality, and still don't think just any computer program can handle my particular (pro) camera card... how to solve? Dunno. Ideas? I like idea of real time reports however.
Re: Operation Overlord well alot of cams have a simple usb plug and you dont need software to pull pics off of them.. or at least i never have. i still say cam phones that can email to the cafe anon would simplify the whole report idea without leaving a trail and would be sufficient for ive updates, with everyone capable of uploading the high quality stuff later on.
Re: Operation Overlord Probably best to get in contact with you CafeAnon before the protest. To be honest, I've had to upload multiple pictures from multiple cameras before, and 90% of the time, just reading right off the card works.
Re: Operation Overlord yeah, this will probably work best if the cafe anons and camera anons are IRL friends out of school or w/e, so that they can be prepared for that kind of thing.
Re: Operation Overlord If the problem is card compatability, I suggest a simple USB card reader (available for around 10 USD)...RAW file format might pose more of a problem. Depending on weather, would it be better to have the computer on site with the protest? Instead of a cafe anon, it could be a communications anon (either using wifi *not all locations* or tethering/pc card with wireless access). WiFi access would have to be scouted per location (preferably on a Saturday so that you don't mistake a work week only node). This would solve a number of issues *travel time/security* as wel as letting them take part in the protests.
Re: Operation Overlord If you all can find wifi at the scene of the protest, go for it. Just make sure its not a scilon network. I simply suggested a cafe or starbucks because it was out of the way, definetly had internet access, and didn't make you an obvious target for scilons.
Re: Operation Overlord I agree with this i beleeive its a good and plausible idea hell we do need to be more organized and constant communication with one another might be a good idea like places to go rest if needed (Hopefully not) and where our allies might be is another thing we need to know :anon:
Re: Operation Overlord The runners should be in strret attire that way the scilons dont catch on just throwin it out there :anon:
Re: Operation Overlord agreed, as should cafe anon. Best bet would be to either a) have the camera anon look like bystanders out to just film the protest, or b) get REALLY lucky and have the scilon filmers mistake our camera anon for PI's
Re: Operation Overlord i toatally agree but we also need to wrk on ways to communicate with all the other anons too
Re: Operation Overlord That's the mob anon's job: He gets the info either through the cafe anon or the camera anons, and then disseminates the info to the rest of the protest, let word of mouth spread the word.
Re: Operation Overlord I think this idea is more trouble than it's worth. Why waste time and effort trying to make sure we have volunteers (and reliable, trustworthy ones at that) for all the roles, that we don't have half of our potential protesters trying to be cafe anons instead, etc. when simply communicating through text works just as well? Of the three stated purposes of Operation Overlord: 1.) Letting Anons know 1000s of /b/rothers are protesting with them worldwide: I think this is something we'll all already know (or at least be assuming) anyways. The only way that this could be providing us with new information is if protests are failing with low turnouts, in which case its better to stay ignorant and maximize turnout at your own local protest and discover the demoralizing news afterwards. 2.) Letting the public know the scope of protests by the amount of video: The same amount of video gets posted with or without Operation Overlord, the only difference is without it the videos get posted after the protest, and with it they get posted during and consume resources in order to do so. 3.) Informing us of Scilon tactics: Text works just as well for this, and people will be getting on enturbulation and other info sources as soon as they can to post info anyways. The only difference is with Operation Overlord we consume more resources and get video and pictures along with it. If we needed to establish for a fact that Scientologists were doing so-and-so, we'd need those pics and videos, but in reality we just need to be alerted to the possibility that Scientologists may employ tactic X in order to devise a countermeasure.
Re: Operation Overlord In terms of resources, the relay comm line + constantly uploading video has too many weak points and uses too many people. I know it was thrilling to see the London raid in snippets of real-time, but it didn't give much of the whole picture. Putting raid videos up after the raids are fine with me. There is also the problem of mob Anon trying to be heard by everyone at the demonstration. If one person is standing there shouting instructions and the rest of the crowd shuts up and is listening, that points him/her out as a "leader" to the Scilons. If masked, that might not be so bad, just use the megaphone or bullhorn to relay the information. Security for this Anon will have to be carefully worked out, so that the Scilons do not get hold of him or her. Texting/calling on a cellphone is a more direct and secure comm line. It uses less resources. If Anons who can't make it to the raid want to contribute, they could purchase a pre-paid phone card for the communication Anons. Just pm the code on the card to your communication Anons. That way, there is no worrying with mailing or distribution. I think the idea of having communication Anons in the crowd relaying information is a great one. We just need to keep the lines short and the operation lean. Make sure that your communication Anon has some way of getting the crowd's attention and relaying instructions clearly and quickly. Choose your communcation Anon carefully, disguise them well, and go full-out cloak and dagger with their security post-raid.
Re: Operation Overlord I'm not sure about all the technicalities involved here, but what about using flickr? I post pictures to my flickr account all the time from my phone, no computer necessary. You just mail them to a special address right from the phone. This is the part I'm not sure about: would it be possible to set up something like a flickr pool where we could all dump our phone pics to, straight from the action? That way it would be very live and it would save a lot of trouble with downloading videos, AND many more people could get involved == tons more pictures.
Re: Operation Overlord Look, if we want to shave it down to the bare essentials, well, we need a way to communicate in real time with protests at least all over the united states. i've been hearing too much shit about private info that some of the Old Guard aren't letting us have, and my tin foil hat's going on: the scilons are going to try SOMETHING for the march 15th protest. we need some way for the protests which start in earlier timezones to relay any relative info concerning the scilons' tactics to the other anon. phones are just real risky, imho, since sharing numbers is a big breach of the whole 'don't share personal information' rule. can we figure out a way other than phones to keep the protests around the us connected? i think the best bet is to have anons who know other Anons irl which couldn't make the protest keep in contact while the anon at home is connected to the internet and watching for any updates from the other protest. essentially, have a more unnofficial group of anons to connect through irc or forums or w/e to swap information that gets sent to and from the protests. so, scilon use some tricky tactic, anon at the protest gives a call to the absent anon, absent anon goes online and say, 'DUDES, WTF, HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED:' and that information gets relayed from the internet to the protests, so they can be prepared.
This thread was for planning a protest aka "raid" in March 2008, about 8 years ago. The target was many Church of Scientology locations around the world. "Anon" is short for "Anonymous person." Hope this helps.
